


Meet Me In The Drift

by AConspiracyOfRavens



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M, Gen, Giant Robots, Jaegers (Pacific Rim), but I love him as he is, you're gonna both love and hate Okeer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AConspiracyOfRavens/pseuds/AConspiracyOfRavens
Summary: [Pacific Rim/Mass Effect fusion] A former Ranger is called to the front line, a task seemingly impossible on her shoulders. These are the last days of the Collector war.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 31
Kudos: 27
Collections: Mass Effect Big Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Beth for making this look pretty, and from Alex, for making sure this is somewhat coherent!

LOCAL CLUSTER - SOL SYSTEM - EARTH - ARES SPACE STATION

The alarm sounded throughout the facility, the space station orbiting earth capturing the Collector signal as appeared, sending its inhabitants in a frenzy.

Shepard woke from her light sleep as one of the crewmen opened their door and turned on the lights with a quick, shouted, “Shepard! Alenko! You’re up!” then moved on to wake the rest of the needed crew. Alenko and her were sharing a bunker, they were both Jaeger pilots, Anderson had said, there was no sense to keep them in different sleeping quarters when they were both needed to pilot the Alliance Ascension.

“I’m up! I’m up!” Alenko’s sleepy voice came from the bed underneath hers, even as he stumbled to put his boots on.

“Do we have any information?” Shepard spoke into her omni-tool, blinking sleep from her eyes, even as she also finished with socks and boots.

They were both sleeping in uniform these days.

“Category III,” came Joker’s voice, “the portal opened near Sri Lanka, in the Indian Ocean. Codename Knifehead. Currently heading north toward either Malaysia or Singapore.”

They both headed to the hangar, shoulder to shoulder, their steps matching with near precision. It was the work of minutes to put the blue armour on, the clicking metal of the magnetic spine being put into place and both pilots stepping into Alliance’s head.

“This will never not be funny,” Shepard snorted, getting into place on the left hemisphere and entering her credentials.

“Stepping on the Alliance’s head?” He enquired, glancing briefly at her before slotting into his place and typing his own credentials.

“You know my sense of humour.”

“Neural hand-shake ” - Joker’s voice interrupted them - “in five, four, three, two-.”

Shepard thought she would never get used to the drift, stepping into another person’s brain like that, intrinsically knowing them inside out, knowing they also knew her completely, knowing they both could see _shepardalenko_ as part of themselves, thoughts and feelings meshing into something that was distinct from either entity and yet both of them at once.

“Neural handshake completed, drift steady and holding.”

They flexed their hand, their fingers metal and bone at the same time.

“Reaching drop point in two minutes, good hunt Alliance!”

The Jaeger’s nod was Shepard’s. The platform moved them to the hangar properly, the kinetic barriers marking the entrance to the void. They had done this song and dance at least ten times, five of those keeping watch on the ten-mile line, five they had taken it out themselves. 

When the strange aliens had first appeared, right in the heart of The Citadel of all places, it had taken immense firepower and the combined effort of the Citadel fleet, along with both Turian, Asari and Human fleets to take it down. It nearly took the Citadel down as well, causing extensive damage to the Tayseri and Shalta-Aroch wards, along with thousands dead, either by debris or by the Alien itself, later re-named Trespasser, itself. The dead were mourned, the citadel rebuilt and life went on. Then it happened again on Thessia, then on Surkesh, on Kar’Shan, Tuchanka, Earth, Palaven, Rannoch and even the outer regions of the terminus systems.

The Jaeger program has been created to deal with them, merging the brain of two sentient beings, into a single, organic, super computer capable of piloting a nuclear-powered skyscraper-sized robot. Tracking when Aliens - Collectors - appeared was easy, the displacement of five metric tons of mass giving them away on any given planet, tracking them until they reached civilization though? The Collectors were the antithesis of current known life-forms. Silicon-based, toxic to most environments, the Collectors weaved destruction in their wake centred around urban environments, after lives. There was current Asari theorist that said they could, if given a chance, thrive on Suen, the home planet of the extinct Rachni; but that planet hadn’t seen activity consistent with sentient life since the Rachni Wars.

“Drop in five, four, three, two, one.”

The platform retracted under them, leaving the Jaeger suspended for a second before the thrusters started to work, forcing them to enter the atmosphere, in free fall into the Indian Ocean. The drop from space and into the ocean was fast, the thrusters helping the descend and submersion into the salty water. Collectors were hard to track, slippery to fight and, one way or another, the bringers of the current apocalypse.

“Nothing on sensors,” Shepard said aloud, for the sake of the station monitoring them, instead of Kaidan.

“Move northeast, Collector’s moving in for Singapore,” came Anderson’s steady voice.

There was no denying it, it was thrilling to move inside a Jaeger, particularly one that could channel their biotics - a new necessary invention courtesy of the Asari - even if they couldn’t use everything on their individual repertoire. On one hand the Push was powerful enough to displace storm waves, on the other hand, whenever they were called there was the Collectors and the destruction they caused, either by fighting or afterwards.

The systems alerted them to the colossal moving presence heading fast in their direction, the Collector as big - if not bigger - as them. It roared as it broke the surface, as if the sudden tsunami wasn’t enough to warn them.

“We’re up!” Kaidan shouted over the noise, as they punched the Collector with a right hook, followed quickly by a left hook, then a smash over it’s head with their fists. The Collector went under from the movements, rearing it’s head a moment later and latching onto their right arm. “Come on, Shepard!” Kaidan shouted, as they readied the plasma cannon, unloading it in the monster’s gut, the alien too close for comfort to use any biotic at that moment

“Again!” She shouted back as they readied the cannon a second time and fired.

The body stood motionless before it begun to sink.

“Alliance!” Anderson shouted, “We read cannons were fired, what the hell is going on down there?!”

“Job’s done, sir.” Alenko said, smiling over at her, the thrill of fighting an 8-ton monster always got to them.

“Then grab the carcass and come back here, we don’t want to leave a mess behind.”

“Aye, aye, sir!” Shepard smiled back, both of them scanning for the Collector.

On the other end of the line Jeff and Anderson looked at the eco-location being transmitted.

“Oh, oh no. Sir, the Collector signal is rising!”

“What?” Anderson turned to speak with his crew again, “Alliance! Alliance, we’re still getting a signature. Get out of there, that thing’s still alive! Do you copy? Get the hell out of there!”

As he finished speaking both pilots felt the claws of the Collector tearing through their back as it reared its head and howled at them again. 

“I have them, I have them!” Alenko shouted as he held on to the monster’s mouth, coming closer and closer to them.

“I got this!” Shepard shouted back, reading the cannon.

The Collector drew back, only to shove its bladed-shaped head on their arm, tearing it away. Shepard howled in pain, the robot transmitting signals and translating only the pain- _painpainpain_.

There was no time to think as the Collector crawled and bit at their helmet, they could both see the teeth slowly sinking into metal. ‘Oh this can’t be happening,’ went through their head before the right hemisphere, Kaidan’s place, was torn away, and Alenko with it.

Shepard seized as the Jaeger routed all its processing power to her, the sudden weight of a Jaeger, mixed with the horror of login Alenko, Kaidan!, sunk in her bones as she felt the Collector’s teeth sinking into her skin and dear god, they were still connected!

Her shout for Kaidan got lost in the storm.

It took a monumental effort to change the controls from her left hand to her right one, the dead weight of a lost connection and lost brother in arms. She had to fight, she had to survive, she had to get out. Her heart sped up and she felt her stomach dropping as her terror grew as she lost connection to Kaidan, his life slipping through their drift, even as the Collector’s head tore through their chest, nearly hitting the nuclear reactor.

No, she had to take it down.

She readied the cannon again, one last time, for Kaidan, for everyone depending on her. It discharged with a blinding light.

Miles away, on the space station, Joker and Anderson lost both signals.

“Cannon discharged again, sir. I’m not getting any signals. Sir?”

“Shit.”


	2. Chapter 2

LOCAL CLUSTER - SOL SYSTEM - JUPITER SYSTEM - TITAN

Sophia looked at her left hand, riddled with scars from the circuity suit, when Knifehead had torn the left arm off the Jaeger, the synaptic response had been so intense, it had torn her skin, leaving scars from her shoulder to her fingertips. She flexed her fingers; the scars were silver with age and care. At the time, Doctor Chakwas had offered to erase them and leave her skin unblemished. She had refused. It was a remembrance of the war, of what had happened.

Since then she had quit the Alliance, quit the Jaeger program. She couldn’t step into a Jaeger without having flashbacks and phantom pain from what had happened. She had been honourably discharged, had collected her overdue payment from the Alliance and moved to a place the Collectors weren’t targeting yet. Moving from job to job, she was currently in one of Jupiter’s moons, Titan, mining Helium to make ends meet. In another month she would move on to Turian-controlled space, there was a gas giant they were just opening up for business, and she wanted dibs on it.

In the local cafeteria, the TV - an old 8K that still worked by some miracle - depicted the Asari’s latest attempt to subdue a Collector. The Biotic shield holding under the strain of the Cat III howling and banging against it. Biotics were good, Asari Biotics were some of the best in the known universe, but they never lasted long against Collectors. Rumour was it that there was some plan in the works, since the Jaeger program was not handling the new wave of Collector showing up in the home planets, or the infestations of bug-like aliens that showed up at the Colonies. She glanced at the Carnifex at her hip. She knew how to deal with those.

On TV, the shield broke and the Collector howled again, heading for the temple of Athame, the Asari fleeing for their lives as nearby aircrafts started shooting it.

“Oi! Shepard,” the site manager called, seemingly annoyed, “someone’s here to see you!”

She looked up from her lunch, looking at the Turian beside him, tall, lean, white clan marks across his entire face.

Sparatus. Councillor Sparatus.

What the hell was he doing in the frozen colony? He had always complained about how Turians hated the cold. What in the goddamned Void was the Turian Councillor doing in a human mining colony, away from the Citadel? They knew each other, had known each other since the start of the Jaeger program, where he had enthusiastically - for him anyway - agreed to finance giant robots fighting monsters. A tentative friendship had blossomed when Alenko and her took down their first Collector, the Councillor beaming with pride and satisfaction as results were delivered.

“Councillor?” She asked in disbelief, eyebrows drawing together and rising up as she stared at him.

“Ranger.”

“I’m no ranger.” She snorted, crossing her arms.

“And I’m not your Councillor. Technically speaking I’m not even here.” He seemed to smile at her; Turian expressions were always so difficult to read.

“Then what in the Void are you doing here, Deciliam?” She asked again, still not believing her eyes. She liked him well enough, and he liked her too for all intents and purposes, but never to the point to seek each other out, particularly when they were just a few messages away.

“I came with a proposal.”

“I thought you weren’t here.”

“Not as a Councillor I’m not.” He sighed, leading her away from the common area, but still within the kinetic barrier. To leave without transport would be suicide. “Officially I’m meeting dignitaries from Council Space to discuss what’s to be done about the Collector problem.”

She stared pointedly at him.

“That’s something my double can handle,” he waved her concern away, “the first day or two they’ll be busy with pleasantries and trying to make deals with each other behind the Council’s back, then we’ll get to brainstorming ideas.” He pointedly rolled his eyes, then nodded toward the television. “See that? That was two days ago.” In the TV the newest Jaeger, Biotic Typhoon, was tearing down the Collector with a Shockwave that also tore through the ground around it. The Jaeger had distinct Asari measurements, feminine, in a way the Alliance hadn’t been. “The Asari proposed a Biotic wall, the Salarians want to figure out where the Collectors are coming from, and defeat them on their turf, the Quarians want to send the Geth to deal with them. The humans and Turians are supporting both Salarian and Asari proposals.” They had been the hardest hit so far.

“And the Krogan? The Batarians?”

“They weren’t invited.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She exploded, walking from one side to the other like a caged beast. “The Krogan have been throwing Kalros at them at every change they get, so far the Collectors haven’t gotten lucky.”

“And not all of us have a gigantic pet Tresher Maw to use whenever convenient. Nor can we throw slaves at them.” The Turian shrugged, staring at the TV screen. “They want to stitch an infected wound. So far the only viable solution we’ve had is the Jaeger Program, and they want to deactivate it. ‘It’s too expensive,’” he mocked in a high-pitched voice. “They haven’t noticed that we’re not facing a threat, we’re facing extinction. If we’re going down, at least we’ll go down fighting.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“Our plan, actually. I’m working with your human Admiral, Anderson? We can keep the project afloat for a few months, and throw everything we got at the Collectors, we know how they operate, reverse engineering to their lair is underway, and when it is, we’ll attack.”

“Months?” She asked. The window between one Collector attack and another was always shorter, of course, but that much…

“We don’t have time, Sophia,” he sounded exasperated. “We’ve managed to time the Collectors appearances throughout the galaxy, we’ve gone from seven standard months two years ago, to one every fifteen days, soon we’ll be down to one every week, then every hour, until our planets are crawling with those things.”

“But we used to have two or three Jaegers stationed around planets in case of attack, with the program decommissioned-?” She trailed off, staring at him, between horrified and disbelieving.

“All our Rangers are either dead or being moved to the new station. We’ll be using Mass Effect Portals between the station and the attack zone, same as the Collectors and Collectors. That part at least we managed to figure out,” he snorted, looking at the TV. “We have a limited number of Jaegers at our disposal, though an increasing pile of spare parts.”

“So what are you doing here? What do you want from me?”

“I want you as my Ranger.” He said, standing at attention and staring at her. Turians, they never knew when to quit. “I’m taking every experienced pilot and Ranger that I can get my hands on, and I want you in the lineup.”

“Deciliam, I’m no Ranger, I can’t have anyone else in my head like that-” she trailed off again, glaring at the ground.

“We know, but we still need you.” Could she even step inside a Jaeger again? “We’re calling you to return to active duty with the resistance, will you answer? Besides,” he stopped, looking at the TV again, where the Typhon was engaging the Collector, “you can’t tell me you’re happy mining Helium. It’s a noble pursuit, I’ll give you that, but one that doesn’t suit you.”

“And how would you know?” She asked, glaring at him. He wasn’t wrong, not really, but these gigs kept her busy, kept her mind off things.

“Because you don’t seem happy, Sophia. I’ve seen you glancing at the scars on your hand, and I’d like to think I know you well enough to at least gauge when you’re upset.”

“I don’t know what to do, Deciliam, I don’t think I can even pilot a Jaeger.” She glanced at the TV, at the Biotic Typhon Throwing the Collector into the sea, away from the population. At least there were still heroes out there.

“That Jaeger has three women in it, a three—way neural-link, two of them Human along with an Asari Justicar, some of the most powerful Biotics I’ve ever known.”

She started paying proper attention to the TV, as the Collector launched an attack against the Jaeger, wrapping its tail around their middle.

“They’re coming up smarter, they know our tactics now, they seem to know that it’s only a matter of time before we’re completely overwhelmed. I’d like to stop that from happening.”

“I really don’t think I’ll be able to be a Ranger again, Councillor.”

“I told you, the Councillor is attending a meeting with the other Council races,” his mandible parted in a Turian grin, “but we won’t know until you try it. We got a plan, an impossible last attempt to save the galaxy. Are you willing to try?”

“I am.” Even after everything, even after Knifehead and Kaidan, if he was giving her a choice, she would take it, though finding a pilot might be difficult.


	3. Chapter 3

HADES GAMMA CLUSTER - DIS - KLENSAL - DARVAZA SPACE STATION

The travel from Titan to the Darvaza was uneventful, though Sophia found it beyond humorous that the name of the space station was the same as that one place on earth most people called ‘the door to hell’, Sparatus had only remarked that it was fitting.

“Sophia,” he called, as the ship anchored with the space station, her duffel bag resting easily at her back, “I won’t be joining you now, I still have to stall the Council while making sure I approve of the proceedings,” he rolled his eyes, mandibles pulling tight to his face. “One of my men, Garrus Vakarian, will greet you at the platform.”

Garrus? What in the world was he doing in Darvaza? And since when was he one of Sparatus’ ‘men’? Last she had heard, he was leading a team to fight the Collectors’ drop offs on the ground. Whenever a Collector made it to the shore, whichever shore, they liked to drop off offspring, and that bloody offspring liked to suck sentient life dry for whatever reason. A scientist had mentioned they were ‘studying’ the current space-faring races, but Sophia didn’t really know how you could study a sentient being by removing everything that made it, well, sentient.

After a moment, staring at the older Turian, she replied with a tense nod. Now she couldn’t wait to see Garrus again.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - HANGAR

Garrus breathed out through his mandibles. There weren’t many Mark III pilots left, so even without Sparatus or Victus saying who the new crew member was, he could make an educated guess; Shepard, Sophia Shepard. Former Commander of the Normandy, Ranger for the Jaeger Program, MIA since the Alliance Ascension took down a Collector two years ago, losing, in a way, both pilots.

Also friend, occasional lover, and one of the few who laughed at his bad jokes and puns.

It was nerve-wrecking in a way he really wasn’t used to, they hadn’t so much as parted ways as been torn apart from each other. When this whole thing started they had talked about regrets, about maybes, about moving forward. Sophia was his maybe, had been actually, but he missed her companionship and friendship more than he did the sex.

He watched, his gizzard in knots, as the ship’s hatch opened, revealing a tired, weary Shepard. He noticed the change when she spotted him, she seemed to suddenly brighten up as she hurried to his side. 

“Garrus!” 

“Shepard,” he nodded at her, his mandibles twitching, was she a sight for sore eyes.

“Long time no see,” she smiled again, extending a hand for him to grasp.

For a wild moment he wanted to draw her near him, touch her more intimately, rest his crest against hers as if they were still lovers and not merely acquaintances. As if-

He took her hand in both of his, shaking it quickly before leading inside the space station.

They were orbiting a star in Batarian space, the situation so dire the Batarian Government had agreed to the request without much fuss. The Batarians had lost nearly 2/5 of their population, in the face of extinction, slave-owning policies took a back seat; the survival and continuation of the Batarian race made for some pretty desperate times indeed.

“So we got the portals running on Solar power, as usual, and ready to go whenever we get a sign that a Collector portal opened up somewhere. So far our lag time is around 5-standard minutes.”

Sophia whistled at that, even with the Relays, travel usually took days between systems, if not weeks. To manage travel in minutes was a feat in and of itself. Although-

“Shouldn’t we be orbiting a star then?”

“We’re in the habitable zone, orbiting a planet, human,” came a booming, deep, voice near them. An old Krogan, even by Krogan standards, walking toward the both of them. “That means we can focus power on the portals instead of useless things like air conditioning and thrusters to keep us in orbit instead of falling into a star. Any other planet in this system would be too close to the star and we’d be pulled right up to it, or so far that we would need to hoard fuel and our efforts wouldn’t matter.”

“Right,” Garrus interrupted, “this is Dr. Okeer, biology specialist, he’s studying the Collectors along with Mordin, to hopefully find a way to eradicate them forever.”

“Mordin?”

“Dr Mordin Solus, he’s working with Okeer in the R&D department.” Garrus explained, leaning closer to Sophia, his hand coming to rest on her waist.

“Bah!” The Krogan exclaimed, sneering, “little Salarian thinks he can sit at the grown up table, I’ve over 3500 years of knowledge on him.”

“Right,” Sophia interrupted, “I’m-”

“Ranger Sophia Shepard, I know who you are. I’ve watched you take down Clawhook, it was a fine, fine battle.”

“Yeah-” she said, her voice seemingly far away, “I remember,” she trailed off, remembering the thrill of taking down another Collector, only to see the husks the Collectors had left in its wake. “D-Don’t the Krogran prefer to let Kalros deal with the Collectors?” She stammered, anything to change the subject.

“Ha! Kalros… that Tresher Maw is older than I am, one of these days there’ll be a Collector she can’t handle and then what? The Krogan go back to square one, as you humans say, lower than square one because they don’t want ‘to get involved.’” He air-quoted her, sneering at the mere notion. “Krogan have lost their spine a long time ago, letting others face their battles for them as they waste time brawling with each other, useless.” He shook his head before wandering off.

“Right,” Garrus said, after a pause. “You’ll probably meet Mordin later, he went off on a tangent trying to solve something in base 10 Mathematics, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.”

“So that’s the research team, or part of it,” she remarked. It was different, so very very different. With the Earth Alliance, they had scientists from all walks of life, regardless of species. They had a full space station connected throughout the galaxy looking for a way to get rid of the Collectors, this? This wasn’t even one percent of what she had been used to.

“You haven’t seen the half of it, we’re not an army anymore, we’re the resistance.”

She laughed, at him, at the situation, at everything it seemed. “Sorry, just had a few long years, I’m not really laughing at you.”

“Right,” he remembered that Sophia had an odd sense of humour, so he wasn’t sure he believed her. “I have the rest of the facility to show you, but first, let’s find your bunker.”

“Ok, single room, or am I sharing with someone?”

“You’re with me until we find someone you can drift with,” he smirked at her.

“If you wanted me all to yourself, all you had to do was ask.” She laughed again, picking up her duffel bag and following him through the corridor and into the sparsely furnished room, nearly spartan, really, with the bunker, a desk filled with weapon mods a closet and a tiny bathroom, which seemed to be a mixture of human and Turian, as incompatible as it were.

“Well, where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m planning a shower. I still got space travel all over me.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, and let’s take this one day at a time, no pressure, on you, on me. We have a mission to complete.”

He drew her near him, resting his forehead against hers, the easy intimacy they had shared gone, but it still felt like coming home. Home in the arms of a human, out of all places.

“I missed you, you know? You’re the only one who laughs at my bad jokes.”

“I find them endearing.” She laughed again. “I missed you too.”

“If you want a repeat performance,” he said, winking at her, “all you need to do is ask, trust me when I say it’ll be my pleasure.”


	4. Chapter 4

DARVAZA SPACE STATION

“What are those?” Garrus pointed at the scars on her arm, as she changed into a simple tank top. 

Right, she had nearly forgotten about them. They had put her things away, and Sophia had taken a quick shower, the military efficiency not lost after all those years.

“Memories from the last time I drifted with Kaidan.” She stopped, looking at the neat silver lines on her hands. She knew they went all the way up to her shoulder, in such a tiny space there was no hiding them from Garrus. “When the Collector torn the left arm of the Jaeger? I felt it, I felt every single ligament in my arm burning and tearing themselves away, I felt as it nearly ripped me in half.” 

She still felt phantom pains from it too, even if the arm itself had never suffered such trauma, to the point her shoulder sometimes ached like a pulled muscle.

“I’m-”

“Don’t,” she snapped, looking at him, “it’s not your fault, it’s one of the risks I accepted when I joined.”

“Does it hurt?” He touched the scars with his fingers, mapping where they were.

“Not when you touch it, don’t worry,” she shook her head, “I get phantom pains though, particularly when atmospheric pressure changes.”

“Won’t take you skydiving. Got it.” He got dressed again, staring her up and down. Damn he had missed her. “Want to see the rest of the facility?”

“Well,” she glanced between the two of them, “I think I’m familiar with my room well enough, might as well meet everyone else.” She winked at him.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

Garrus took her to the bay, the doors opening to a flurry of activity, and Jaegers. The 2km tall robots that were supposed to save everyone. In theory.

They watched as a bunch of Salarians hushed past them, machine parts following them in a different cart. At another station some Turian were huddled together, optimizing firing algorithms and eco-localization. In another part of the bay, an Asari was working on reattaching the robotic ligatures in a Mark IV.

On the wall, above everyone was a clock, counting each minute that passed them by.

“That’s the wall clock, we reset it after every Collector attack. Thankfully they’re considered enough not to attack all locations at the same time, or we’d be damned.” Garrus explained as they continued the supposed tour. 

“I know the frequency of attacks is speeding up, how long since the last attack?”

“A week, though with the frequency of attacks, Mordin expects there’ll be another one before this week is over.”

Well wasn’t that just the cherry on top? Joining in on a suicide mission, or die trying to escape the coming destruction. Cheery thought. The bay continued to work as they walked past it, out of everything in the bay, there was just one thing she wanted to see.

But before that...

“Garrus,” she stopped him with a hand on his elbow, looking up at him, “Sparatus brought me here so I could be a Ranger again, which I fully accept, but why? All I see around me is a suicide mission waiting to happen, what changed?”

“We have a plan, that’s what changed.” A voice called out behind her, as she turned around her eyes widened at the sight of the Admiral.

“Anderson.” She whispered faintly.

“Shepard.”

“It’s good to see you, sir.”

“It’s been a long time. Sparatus told me he could get you aboard this, I shouldn’t have doubted him.”

“He... has a way of making me do things his way, that much is true.” She laughed, their friendship was strange, but not unwelcome.

“I need to learn how he does it, then.” Anderson smiled at her. “For now I’ll let Vakarian show you your Jaeger, then I’ll explain what we have.”

“Shall we?” Garrus nodded to the far end of the bay, casually side-stepping the flow of people in their way. Out in the back the magnificent - for her - form of a Jaeger became apparent, casually hidden from sight, a thinner middle connecting legs and chest, the arms seemed to buff out, sort of like her companion.

It had been two years since she had put on the suit, two years since she lost Kaidan to that damned Collector; and yet-

“Thoughts?” Garrus asked, both looking at the Jaeger, it’s form humanoid and yet-

“Turian?” She asked, looking at the distinct crest, at the strange thing over the Jaeger’s core reactors; almost like a carapace.

“Well,” Garrus started, rubbing the back of his neck, “it is a joint effort of the Human Resistance and the Turian Hierarchy.” He shrugged. If she didn’t know him better she would think he was being bashful and self-conscious, as it was-

“So, how are you gonna chose the candidates?” She asked, looking up at the metal giant, it had been way too long since she piloted one. For a moment she wondered if the pilot’s seat would bring memories, but that would depend entirely on her co-pilot.

“How were you chosen the first time?” Garrus asked instead, his head tilted in interest. All he knew was that Shepard and Kaidan piloted the first Jaeger, the Alliance Ascension, and that he and Ashley had been assigned to lead the ground team against the Collectors the Collector dropped.

“We weren’t,” she snorted, “we were all military, we did as we were told.”

“Well,” Garrus drawled, reaching for her shoulder and giving it a squeeze, “the Hierarchy believes in drift compatibility, so that’s the route we’ll take.”

“I am not sleeping with a bunch of turians to find out which one I like the most.” Shepard said, deadpan. Besides she already knew which Turian she liked the most, and if she had her way, the only one inside her head would be Garrus.

“Just your luck that we updated protocols to hand-to-hand combat instead.” Garrus wasn’t that hard to read, that Shepard couldn’t tell he was smirking. Bastard.

Hand-to-Hand with candidates, bloody brilliant. “Are you one of them?” She asked, grinning at him.

“I can’t.”

“Garrus-”

“I’m in charge of the ground troops, for when the Collector shows up, you know that.”

“I know,” she sighed, dejected. “I’m not trying to- to rock the boat or anything, I just hoped they would’ve upgraded your job."

“As if,” he snorted. “Victus insists he needs me on the ground, though I wouldn’t say no if the opportunity ever presented itself.”


	5. Chapter 5

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - R&D LABS

“It started with 24 weeks interring between attacks, then 12, then 6, then every two weeks.” The Salarian said, typing fast on his datapad, the data flowing to be shown on the wall. “The last one on Thessia was a week, in 4 days we could be seeing a Collector attack every 8 hours, until they attack the home planets every 4 minutes, the portals are stabilizing and I think they’re done playing with us. They send us monsters first, the same as asking your pet worm to attack someone before you do. All Cat IV now show a sliver of intelligence, like a klicken learning from its master or from failures. All things considered,” Mordin stopped, taking a deep breath, “we will be seeing a double event in the next 7 days.”

“Doctor,” the raspy voice of a Turian, former general Adrien Victus resonated through the room, “I’m gonna use the same portals they come through to drop a nuclear warhead wherever they come from. I appreciate everything you told me, but I need to know where they’re coming from next before I turn Surkesh into a radioactive waste land by mistake.”

“He can’t give you that, Turian,” the booming voice of Okeer sounded on the far side of the room. “He can’t give you that part of the prediction, the Collectors don’t follow any sort of rule, any sort of pattern.”

“There will be a double event, then three, then four.” Mordin insisted, glaring at the Krogan.

“And then we’re all dead and life as we know it will be over, I got that part, doctor.” Adrien sighed, staring at the calculations. It was all gibberish to him, but his mind was far away, thinking of resources, they needed that fourth Jaeger ready ASAP.

“I just told you, Victus, the portals are stabilizing. As soon as they do, as soon as they hold,” Mordin breathed in, “we can send something through.”

“And yet you still can’t say where the portal will open,” the Krogan laughed.

“And you think you can?”

“With the right resources, I can do better than that,” he grinned, all sharp teeth and Mordin was reminded sharply why Krogan have two sets of vital organs.

“Do tell,” Anderson said as he walked into the room, sharing a look with the Turian general. Former Turian general.

“See this?” Okeer pointed at the specimens he was handling. They looked exactly the same, as alike as two blobs of purple flesh could, anyway.

“I ran tests on them, ran everything I could think of, and some I even had to reinvent from the Rachni wars. Those Collectors? They’re not different from each other as we though, they’re clones, with increasing parts of DNA from our side of the portals. We’ve been dealing with one being, essentially, over and over and over again while it learnt our patters and how we behave.”

“One, not convinced of your results,” Mording interrupted, “two, think you’re crazy, you’re speaking the impossible!”

The men turned to the eccentric, currently chuckling Krogan. “Just because I want to drift with a Collector?”

“You want to what?”

“Excuse me?” Victus rumbled, mandibles tight to his face.

“Told you, completely crazy!”

“Not the whole Collector, but I do have preserved brains that still have some life to them,” he said, even as one of those specimen poked the glass, as if it could heard them. “It’s not impossible, Drak’s molted beard, this thing it’s not even fully alive, or complete. But I think I can still tap into it. And when I tap it, I can tell you how, when, and more importantly, why.”

“That’s out of the question, Doctor Okeer, the surge would be too much for a healthy young brain, let alone an old Krogan’s brain.” Victus vetoed on the spot, turning back to Mordin. “I want your data, the full data, on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

“Turian!”

“Thank you, Doctor Okeer.” Victus said pointedly before the two men quickly stepped out.

“Okeer, know you’re desperate to be right, if only to continue your research making ‘the perfect Krogan.’ But isn’t going to work.” Mordin snapped, gathering his datapad and following after the general.

“Salarians,” Okeer grumbled under his breath, keeping his rage in check. It wouldn’t do to damage the samples. They thought they were so clever, so right. They sterilized an entire race and then suddenly thought they knew everything. He had more knowledge in one of his quads than they had in their whole species. Figures, underestimated again.

Well, he needed a piece of a Collector to study, and loathe as he was, he knew how to get the freshest specimen.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

“Garrus, you didn’t tell me the Commander was back.”

“Joker!” Sophia turned, nearly gapping at the man walking up to them with a cane. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

“Anderson brought me in when the Council officially decommissioned us, he knew he couldn’t be without his best navigator.” He extended a hand, shaking it firmly before he nodded to their restored Jaeger. “How do you like your new ride? Solid iron hull, no alloys, secondary shields and even a kinetic barrier to boost, and, wait for it, and a brand new fluid synapse system.”

“It’s good to see you!” She repeated, looking from him to the odd Jaeger form.

“You too, Shepard, hey, Ashley will be arriving in the next day or two, so with the three of us, plus Garrus there, it’ll be just like old times!”

“Man I hope not, you guys were impossible.” She laughed, staring between the two men. “So, since a reunion seems to be going on, where’s Tali? Wrex? Liara? Tell me you have news!”

“Tali’s with the fleet, she’s stationed on the Citadel last I heard and Wrex is back on Tuchanka. We haven’t really heard from Liara in a while though. Just long enough to be worried,” Garrus frowned. “Ashley’s the one that’s been handling communication between all of us, she’ll be glad to have you back!”

“You guys are very bad at this,” Sophia sighed, but with a smile on her lips. “I’m supposed to be regretting having agreed with Sparatus to come back and be a Ranger again. You guys are making it very hard to regret this.”

“I’ll have to remind you of that next time you decide to mope around the room,” Garrus snarked back. “I’ll catch you later, I need to check something about the ground team and how we’ll handle try outs later on. Do you remember the way back to our room?”

“I’ll manage, thanks!”

They both stood silently watching Garrus leave before Joker turned to Sophia again, an arched eyebrow and a knowing glint in his eye. “You’re rooming with Garrus huh? What happened to you and Liara?”

“There was never any ‘me and Liara’, Joker, ever. You know I don’t encourage infatuations among my crew.”

“Then explain Garrus.”

“We’re friends, Joker, that’s all there is, that’s all it ever was.” She laughed, she liked Garrus well enough, and if the circumstances were different she might even consider dating him, but here? In the middle of a war? There wasn’t much room left for romance, though she wouldn’t mind a repeat with that tender side of him.

“I don’t remember you treating the rest of the crew to your heart eyes, Shepard. And trust me, I’d have noticed it!”


	6. Chapter 6

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - TRY OUT ROOMS

She looked around the room, clad in a tank top and her running shorts. It had maybe a dozen people, humans, Turians, Asari and even a Salarian and a Drell. For a moment she wondered where in the Void had Garrus come up with all these people. No matter, she would dance with them, see which one fit her style better. Her own Turian had been missing. He had given her good morning and disappeared somewhere in Darvaza, and she still didn’t know the station well enough to hunt him down. Ah well, if he wasn’t one of the candidates, she could tell him later who she was paired up with. In the middle of the room stood another Turian, older by the looks of it, white markings on crimson hide, with a limp of all things.

“Right, I’m Nihlus Kryik, some of you will remember me as a Spectre, but I’m here now to train your asses so you can fight the things trying to wipe us off the galaxy. I’ll be running your trials with our newest Ranger, Sophia Shepard.” He motioned her to take a step forward, right in the centre.

Right, this was for choosing her partner.

“First… let’s see, we have Avila T’seris, also a vanguard. Shepard, how do you dance?” He offered her an assortment of weapons, between them…

“Jo, let’s go with the short staff.”

“Alright, best out of four, give it your best and let’s see how you dance people.”

They both got in place, both holding the staff in both hands before the Asari attacked, straight for her neck. Sophia blocked them with a step to the side and a jab to their ribs. 0-1.

Sophia counteracted with a jab to her neck, then one aimed her forehead, being blocked at each turn and getting a jab on her stomach, 1-1.

Then the Asari started with a series of attacks, which Shepard was unable to follow along, unable to counteract in time. The Asari was too fast for her.

A sharp whistle stopped them, Avila breathing hard as they stared at Shepard. And Shepard? Shepard was winded from the onslaught, a part of her was thankful Garrus hadn’t chosen Asari Huntresses for her to dance with.

“Take five, then we’ll continue.” Nihlus seemed to frown at her, and she wasn’t sure he was disapproving of her form or what. She didn’t much care for his judgement beyond choosing the right partner for a drift.

Next was the Salarian, who also left her winded, ending with a 4-1 score too.

Then the Turian, with a 1-4 score, she sighed, she wanted Garrus, she knew, she could feel it in her gut that she could drift with him. What could be more perfect than her Turian partner and her in a Human-Turian Jaeger hybrid? She sighed, dejectedly as she started another round with a human this time, maybe they were compatible, maybe-

A jab in her eye brought her back to the moment, making her stagger back and the man to score the first point. She launched an attack against his throat in retaliation, following with a jab to his stomach. 1-2.

He jabbed her middle, throwing her on the floor, 2-2.

She followed with a jab to his head he was nearly unable to block. 2-3.

They circled each other, making feints, before Shepard stepped to side and jabbed him back in the eye, 2-4.

“That’s foul-play!” The man staggered back, whipping his eye, oh that was gonna leave a mark.

“Then don’t start with foul-play!” She snapped at him, grinning, showing all her teeth.

“Right, that’s over and done with, next!” Nihlus shouted over them, his dual-toned voice making sure the room paid attention to him.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of blue and silver, her eye widening and her grin turned into genuine glee as she saw the newcomer, Garrus himself stepping up to the ring, a staff in his hands, his suit replaced with those cut out shorts she appreciated, and nothing on top.

“Shall we?” He walked to the middle of the ring, his mandibles spread in a grin. Oh, this was going to be fun.

“If you insist.” She twirled the staff on her hands, bringing it up to her head, next to her ear.

He twirled his back, bending slightly lower, staff nearly hidden but ready for an attack.

She attacked with a jab to his head. 0-1.

He jabbed the staff out of the way, jabbing her in the head. 1-1.

They both returned to the initial position, before she quickly stepped up to him with a jab to his wrist. 1-2. “Come on Garrus! You can do better than that!”

“Don’t tempt me.”

He aimed for her head again, which she blocked, then one for her arm, which she stepped aside and countered with a jab to his waist, which he blocked with his staff and then jabbed at her head. 2-2

They returned to their positions, with Shepard soon launching in a series of side attacks and a jab to Garrus stomach, before, somehow, he managed to reverse their positions, lock her staff and throw her in the ring, pointing his staff at her face 3-2.

They continued, with Shepard reversing their positions, throwing Garrus on the ground and jabbing his cowl, 3-3.

They continued their dance of faint and dodge and crossing staffs and Shepard had never felt as alive as she did right in that moment. She knew they were drift compatible, even as he threw her on the ground again and they locked into an impossible lock-down, she knew who was going to be her partner.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Nihlus called into the room, his voice calling them to attention, “I’ve seen what I needed to see, Shepard, Vakarian, you’re Rangers, officially drift compatible, Vakarian, a word!”

He side stepped her, eyes wide as he looked between her and Nihlus.

That was odd, shouldn’t he be celebrating too?

——

Garrus approached Nihlus with his mandibles drawn in, he knew he shouldn’t have done it, knew it was against the rules and yet… when he had seen her looking increasingly irritated with every attempt, he had just acted, changed into his workout clothes and stepped into the ring with her.

“Vakarian, you know the Hierarchy’s policies regarding bonded couples and drifting, by the spirits, why would you hide that? You know we’re on borrowed time as it is, we could’ve spent the entire time training your neural handshake. Do you have any idea how much time we wasted with this thing?”

Oh.

“We’re not bonded, sir.” He felt the need to correct him, Shepard was a friend, a very important friend, but a friend nevertheless. “She’s one of my best friends, that’s it.”

“Do I look like I got my markings yesterday?” Nihlus asked, mandibles tight. “Garrus,” he added, nearly whispering, just in between them, “if one of my officers were making those subvocals at someone, I would’ve sent them to the office to get their status changed to married and sent them on their honeymoon. You’re lying to yourself if you think she’s just a friend. Go, I’ll deal with Adrien for you.”

“Both of you,” Nihlus added out loud, “report to the Bay in two hours.”


	7. Chapter 7

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - R&D

Okeer finished plugging the makeshift drift connector into the side of the case holding a specimen’s brain, datapad live and recording. “This is a sample from a Category I Collector,” he started, “codename Yamarachi, frontal lobe is damaged, but there are still electrical signs, so if my calculations are right, despite the damage I’ll be able to drift with it.” He snatched the flimsy drift helmet, handmade, because so far no one had ever made one for Krogan to drift. Idiots.

“Starting in 5, 4, 3, -”

_‘Starting neural handshake’_ , the VI whispered to no one in particular as Okeer pressed the button.

He saw part of his life pass him by in a blur before everything turned sideways. Millions of hands touching him, no, making him, making other like him, making thousands and thousands of otters based on someone else’s genetic material. Making him big and fearsome and hard - no, soft - no, with wings - no, with sharp claws - no with, with- with enough of him to serve their masters in their ode to destruction.

“er..”

“keer!”

“Okeer!” someone shouted near him, and he wanted to swat them like a pyjak, though his hands were too heavy to move.

“Crazy, crazy Krogan, Okeer!”

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

_‘Digeris Omega, neural test commencing in 20 minutes.’_ The VI announced to the facility, as Shepard and Garrus got ready in near silence, just the occasional brush of hand on talon, or bumping in each other due to the limited space. Ever since Nihlus approved of Garrus being her co-pilot, Garrus had been silent, introspective even. This just wasn’t the time for introspection and second thoughts, she was about to know him, really know him, inside out and vice-versa, this just wasn’t the time to-

“Listen, Garrus, if you’re having second thoughts, I get it, I can find someone else to drift it, there’s hundreds of people in this space station. Worse comes to worse I can drift with Ashley, even though neither of us would’ve liked it very much.”

“It’s not that,” he sighed, looking at her. “Nihlus said something, something I wasn’t even aware of.”

“I’m gonna be in your head in 20 minutes. Either you say something now, or I find out in 20 minutes. So, what gives?”

“He said my subvocals keep singing when we’re together, more than friends, less than a married couple.” He sighed, looking away from her, he had agreed to take it slowly, he had agreed they would take it in their own time and yet…

“Isn’t it enough that we like each other?”

“What?”

“Garrus, I like you too, more than friends, you’ll feel it, I do. But we don’t have the time to explore this, not until this is over.” He looked stricken, as if she had just killed his pet. “Let it progress naturally, let all of this flow, no, I’m not saying this the right way, we like each other, isn’t that enough? Do we have to put a label on it? Make it official or something? You already have me, Garrus Vakarian, in all the ways that matter, but we just don’t have the time to explore the romantic side of our relationship, not yet.”

“Not ever? I don’t want you to be my ‘Maybe.’”

“Your what?”

“You’ll see, how much freedom do I have with you?”

“You already have me, Garrus Vakarian, in all the ways that matter, you have me. Take as much as you’d like.”

“Oh.” He paused a moment, staring at her, before leaning forward and resting his brow-plates against her, and just breathing her in for a moment. He already had her, all he had to do now was wait for her to commit to him. If they had time.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY - TRIAL RUN

“Come on people! I know we haven’t done this in three whole days, but you can’t be rusty already!” Joker snapped, looking around himself at the ducklings - as he affectionately called them - ran around like headless chickens.

In the bay, Garrus and Sophia got ready, The undersuit first, fitted for drifting with an added layer of synaptic processors, then another layer, a polycarbonate shell which connected with the magnetic spine interface, also came with full life support, in case of incidents. The last layer looked more like the stuff they were used to in army: a hard ceramic layer, though it had a recorder to preserve sensory impressions. In Sophia’s opinion, if you ever had a Collector tear off your arm, you could skip that part entirely, but rules were rules. Last were the helmets, or their ‘thinking caps’ which effectively synced their brains to work as one. The crew helped, fixing feedback cable into the motion rig, the back of their suits and connecting them to the interface.

It was a pain in the ass process, both to get in and get out of the full gear, but damn if she hadn’t actually missed it.

“Are you gonna say anything?” Garrus asked, looking her up and down.

“You’re gonna be inside my head in five minutes, there’s no point.”

“All right kids,” Joker started, “this is your god for the next fifteen minutes, initiating neural handshake.”

“Just… don’t chase the rabbit, Garrus.”

“The what?”

“Random Brain Impulse Trigger, memories, also a cute pet down on Mindoir, I’ll show you some day-, “ she winked at him, even as she put her helmet on. “Let them flow through you, don’t get caught in one, tune them out, like a minor wound you’ll have to wait for the doctor to see.”

“I have gone through the simulations before, you know?”

“Not like this you haven’t.”

_‘Neural interface drift initiated,’_ the VI announced.

Suddenly everything went dark and blue, memories of playing on Mindoir with her brother, then the Batarians attacking and killing her family, the months she spent with her grandmother and uncle, joining the Alliance, the first time she went through a Mass Relay, studying for finals, seeing his fringe grow slower than the other Turians, learning how to handle a snipper riffle with his dad, his sister poking his waist as he grew older, teasing him about coming to her unit, his mother tending to him and his sister and teaching them how to cook, Kaidan being torn away from her, his mother and sister being slaughtered by the Collectors, the sudden bright void of death in Kaidan’s place-

_‘Right Hemisphere calibrated,’_ the VI’s voice broke through, _‘Left Hemisphere calibrated, ready to activate the Jaeger.’_

They looked at their hands, so alike in movement, yet so different, suddenly she could feel all the plates in her back itching, the mesh didn’t exactly agree with Turian physiology.

They moved as one, raising their right hand slightly, then the left, the feel of 3 tons of iron and steel unnerving.

“Alright kids, you’re lining up nicely, keep it up,” Joker’s voice sounded in the helm, even as the VI announced the Pilot-Jaeger connection.

“Admiral! Admiral! Need to talk, now!”

“Doctor Solus, this better be important.” Anderson snapped, without looking at the Salarian. That was his protege down in the Bay, only something supr-

“Okeer build a neural bridge from scrap and drifted with a Collector.” Mordin snapped.

The bridge went silent as everyone turned to stare at Mordin.

“Come, he needs us.” He paused, looking at the two main figures at the bridge. “Well?”


	8. Chapter 8

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - R&D

“Found him lying on the floor, nostrils bleeding, probably brain damage-” the Salarian trailed off as they reached the labs, Okeer at the computer, the makeshift drift helmet still hanging from his ear.

“Don’t you ever doubt me again,” Okeer said, without turning to face them. “I found out the clones we’ve been dealing with? Not animals, not just hunting for resources, they were sent here.”

“Makes sense,” Mordin frowned, grabbing a datapad and making annotations, “improbable, but not impossible.”

“And it gets better, these beings? Their masters, warlords, whatever you wanna call them? They’re consume of worlds, they appear to solely exist to eradicate life, those first waves? Categories I and II? Just the sniffling varrens. They’re there to point the way, to test the waters. Now? Now they will be sending the real firepower, until everything in this corner of the galaxy has been annihilated.” He continued to type as he talked, as if a new breath of life had taken over his old bones. “The same DNA I’ve found? The clones? These babies were created, breed from the same fabric. Once they’re done? Once we’re out of the way? Then their masters can do with out remnants whatever they want. I appreciate those tactics, even if they’re my enemy.” Okeer said.

Well that changed everything. From the beginning all worlds leaders, the Council, had been led to believe the Collectors had been working alone. They all had been led to believe that the antithesis of their current life was working alone, on their own terms and orders but with what Okeer had said-

“I need you to do it again. We need more information.”

“And I would, but my current slice of Collector brain was fried in the last drift, so unless you have a fresh one conveniently lying around…” he trailed off, looking at the human and the salarian. “Thought not.”

“I might know someone who does,” Victus said as he walked in. “I heard what happened, and I might know someone who’s been in the Collector business since day one. Preservation and exportation of Collector remains he calls it. You’re not gonna like this one, Anderson.”

“I don’t care if I’ll like it or not, I only care if they can get the job done.”

“Black marked dealers, they’re usually Krogan.” Okeer snorted, looking at the footage. The crew was fast, not nearly as fast as a fully Krogan crew, but few were.

“Not this one.” Victus said, pausing the vid in one specific Turian. Pale plates, some of his face missing, ligaments extending from his mandibles in a grotesque facsimile of a Turian. “Saren Arterius,” he continued with a heavy sigh, even as Anderson straightened up. “Former Spectre, currently leads the black market on Dextro-planets, for both Turians and Quarians. Similar, in some ways, to Aria T’Loak in the Terminus. When our funding ran out, we turned to them for help, in return they have exclusive rights over Collector remains, shared as they see fit.”

Mordin drew a sharp breath, for the past two years it had been nearly impossible to get Collector remains, unless you wanted to pay the exorbitant fees of the black market. “You allowed that?”

“We’re nearing the end of this war, I’ll take all the help I can get. Head to Cipritine, a little corner shop in the bay by the name of ‘Hound Exports’ tell them I send you.” He paused looking both of them over. A Salarian and a Krogan walking into a Turian black market dealer. He would pay good money to see how Saren would react. “Trust him only as far as Mordin can throw him, less, if you can.”

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

“I knew they could do it,” Nihlus said as he watched the Jaeger move, watched as they tested the hands, arms and minor movements. With the way they had been dancing… had Shepard been a Turian, Nihlus would punish them for the foreplay in the ring.

_‘Calibration complete.’_ The VI said. It was odd having Garrus in the back of he head, virtually seeing all of her. She turned to him, only to be confronted by a memory of herself shouting. She knew that memory, intimately. It was the sole reason she didn’t want to drift with anyone else. Oh this was about to get bad, really, really bad.  
  
_‘Shepard!’ Kaidan shouted, even as the Collector tore through the Jaeger to grab him. She could still feel his life slipping through the drift._

“Oh shit,” Joker whispered, staring in dawning horror at the cockpit, “fuck, they’re out of alignment.”

“What?”

“Yeah, both of them, oh don’t do this to me, not now!” He muttered to himself even as he started typing commands to take the Jaeger offline.

_‘Shepard!’ Kaidan’s voice echoed through their head, though they found themselves on Palaven, Cipritine was on fire, raining ashes while above them the guttural howl of a Collector could be heard on the streets, this was important, it was the first time he went home in nearly ten years, he should’ve visited, should’ve-_

_The empty husks of Turians and aliens alike lay on the street, as ash rained upon him like a mockery of water._

_His mother teaching him how to garden though he never could quite get into the hobby; at least he knew how to pull weeds._

_The taste of smoke in the back of his tongue, the sound of gunshots that wouldn’t even scratch the monsters. The shape of the gigantic alien looming over him, over his mother and sister. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can, pick up your sister and go!” His mother shouted at him, grabbing the nearest riffle, the streets were full of those and of dead bodies._

_“Mom!”_

_“Go, Garrus! I’ll try to buy you some time, get out of here!”_

_“You can’t defeat that!”_

_“That’s an order, soldier! Take your sister and go!”_

_He did, picking up Solana and sprinting. The roar of the Collector mixing with the sound of gunshots, of his mother screaming for the Collector’s attention, until only the roaring remained. He ran into a side alley, hoping to hide, hoping to do something to escape certain death._

“Garrus,” Shepard whispered, her heart beating faster. “Garrus, listen to me, this is just a memory, none of this is real. We’re not on Cipritine, that Collector is dead,” she tried, approaching the hunched forms of both Turians. 

_The Collector roared as it stopped in the alleyway, starting to tear buildings apart to get to them. “No!” Garrus shouted, reading his riffle, if he could buy just enough time for Solana to get out, that would have to be enough._

“Shit, shit shit,” Joker shouted as the Jaeger’s plasma cannon started to power up. “Everybody get out! Out! Now! Activate the fucking failsafe!”

“We can’t! It’s responding to the neuro-lock!” Someone shouted back, “the connection’s way too strong!”

“Get out of here!” Joker shouted back.

_He could see the Collector getting nearer their position. Above them a Mass Effect portal opened, a Jaeger dropping near their position, it would never get to them in time. He shouted for his sister, even as the Collector’s attention was torn from them. He couldn’t see the fight, too much smoke and debris on the way, but he could hear it, could hear the weapons being readied, could hear the Collector fighting. He loaded his weapon and breathed in, if he was going to die, it would be fighting._

Anderson ran into the cockpit, the plasma cannons lighting up the place.

“Take them offline!”

“We did!” Nihlus said through gritted teeth, even as he pulled the power cord that was supposed to control the simulation.

“Garrus!” Shepard shouted, moving in front of him, even if he couldn’t see her.

“Plasma cannon, disengaged,” the VI announced. Sophia threw her drift helmet to the side, running to her Turian’s side, only to see him fall to his knees, a defeated look on his face. 

“It’s ok, you’re ok, let’s get you out of here.”


	9. Chapter 9

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - SHEPARD/VAKARIAN SLEEPING QUARTERS

“What the hell was that?” Anderson’s voice rang through omni-tool, the distorted voice was appreciated, Sophia didn’t know if she could take Anderson’s stern yet disapproving face, not yet.

“Garrus ended up chasing the rabbit,” she sighed, leaning back on a chair, feet on the table as she glanced at her Turian. He was still asleep after Chakwas - bless the doctor for signing on to the resistance - forced medication into him. She didn’t get much of an explanation besides ‘it’ll make him sleep,’ though she wasn’t expecting one. Not after the stunt they pulled.

If the cannon has gone off, there would be no more Resistance or anyone else to fight for that matter. Dying in an explosion in space was a bad way to go, but taking the entire space station along with you? Unthinkable.

“We’re sending Okeer and Mordin to Palaven, we’ve got a new lead. You’ve got the rest of today off.”

“But Anderson-!”

“You’ve got your partner to take care of, I need you both in fighting condition.”

“Yes sir!” She mock saluted him, before looking at the Garrus, her face suddenly warm. “Partner huh?”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE

Okeer and Mordin arrived on Cipritine along with the evening rain. The usually neat and orderly city suddenly bustling with movement as inhabitants tried to steer away from the heavy downpour. Mordin was in a radiation-resistant suit, the grey of it giving it away to any curious onlooker. Okeer, on the other hand, was in what the ancient Krogran considered to be a civilian outfit: armed to the teeth, but with little to no armour on.

“You are not radiation resistant!” Mordin snapped; irritated after numerous attempts to keep the Krogan safe.

“I need the Vitamin D.” The Krogran drawled, even as he started to sniff around for the rogue Spectre. “It used to be worse, now it just tickles, relax.”

They wove through the city, the clues were subtle by Turian standards, but it was easy enough to follow if you knew how to follow clues, the farthest and most hidden street in Cipritine, along the shore. 

“There,” Okeer pointed, a plain steel door with seemingly no one around.

“How can you even tell?”

“I can see it,” Okeer rumbled, pointing at his eyes, “I can see different hues than you can, or did you forget?” He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Sooner or later you’ll just have to accept that I know what I’m talking about, if your ego can take it that is.”

“Hi,” the Krogran greeted the Turians at the shop, a wide unfriendly grin on his face. “I need to speak with Saren Arterius, where is he?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Someone interested in what he has to sell, if he here or do I have to make the Angry Krogran act for you all to get out of my way?” Behind him, Mordin shrunk, either in fear or in embarrassment, Okeer didn’t know or care.

“Right,” one of the younger Turians, in his 20’s if the full, not cracked, plates were any indication. “Through here, good luck.” He pointed at a side door, made clearly for Turians and not bulky Krogans. He passed by easily enough, before looking back the thugs, “the Salarian’s with me, let him through.”

The hidden side of the shop looked like a regular warehouse, if one discounted the preserved Collector pieces displayed like prizes around the walls.

“Is that a lymph node from a Collector?” Mordin didn’t wait for an answer, moving from one end to the other. Full, and dead, Husks, Collector plates, bones and teeth on display. “Never believed in heaven. Might start to.”

“Heaven is a fallacy of he modern age. This is just a collection.” A Turian drawled at one of the tabled, looking them both from top to bottom, “what do you want Salarian? Krogan?”

“We’re looking for Saren Arterius.”

“You’re talking to him, idiot.” Okeer sneered looking at the Turian. Black cap on his head, plates as pale as bones, he fit the description. “I need a fresh Collector brain, Victus told you could get one.”

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - SHEPARD/VAKARIAN SLEEPING QUARTERS

“I knew I had bad memories that would give me pause, and that I had to control myself during the drift. I didn’t think you would have those too.” Sophia sighed, still feeling the effects of the drift. How Garrus’ hands contrasted with hers, how he moved. As soon as they had disconnected she had missed the spurs on her calves and walking had been odd with her whole foot, instead of just the toes. Maybe Garrus would suddenly miss the feeling of his hand having five fingers. Now there was a thought.

“I feel like I should apologize for what happened, the rangers weren’t fast enough to save your family.”

“Not your fault,” came Garrus sleep laced voice.

“On principle,” she sighed again. “Those rangers are dead as far as I know, so like it or not I represent them during that nightmare.”

“Not your fault,” Garrus repeated, turning on his side to look at her.

“It still makes me feel guilty, sue me.” She smiled as he glared at her, or rather, at her feet on the table. She moved to sit next to him, taking his hand in hers. It was just as she remembered, thick fingers, trimmed talons, his hands dwarfed hers in hilarious ways. “I didn’t think you’d be this affected by the drift.”

“I didn’t know I’d be this affected by the drift.” He countered, yawning, mandibles spread wide, tongue unfurling from his mouth. Sophia blushed again, for a different reason though: she remembered exactly how that tongue felt on her.

“Mind out of the gutter please, unless you want company.”

She blushed even harder, her face warm as she groaned. “You’re still recovering, as much as I’d like to help it along with sex, that would do more harm than good, one thing you don’t need in a drift partner is someone you have unresolved sexual tension with.”

“Partner?”

“I’d say so, Anderson confirmed it while you were asleep. I think they’re pressed for time, personally, something’s going on in R&D, neither Mordin nor Okeer are at the base at the moment. I asked Joker about it, but he was still miffed with the stunt we pulled.”

“We?”

“I’m as responsible for Digeris Omega as you are, Garrus. That’s my Jaeger too. You freaked me out when you went under, I had no idea…” she trailed off, leaning until she was resting on top of him.

“It happened when you were away, I don’t- I try not to think about it.” He replied, caressing her face. He had lost his sister and his mother that day, his father away at the base dealing with containment of hazardous materials. It had been two years, and the churn of his gut - guilt - still remained.

“Yeah, the mind has a funny way to process those memories when you’re in the drift, I think you’ll end up seeing Kaidan sooner or later.” She grimaced, the memory gritty like sand, before she turned to kiss his palm. “I’ll be here if you need me, fuck knows I sympathize with anyone who lost a loved one to a Collector. It’s a fucked up way to go.”

“Yeah.” He trailed off, averting his eyes, staring at the ceiling, he wasn’t sure he would be able to confide in her, not about that, not about losing his family.


	10. Chapter 10

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - R&D

“Trust me, they weren’t my first choice either,” Anderson sighed as he looked at the line-up. Mordin had said seven days, three had already passed, they were short on time, short on Rangers and short on staff.

“Can they fight?” The Turian councillor asked via vid com, the conversations were going badly with more people being swayed by the Asari idea of a wall, and the apparent success at Tuchanka of evading a Collector attack. For the first time in centuries the Turians were in the minority.

“I can bet by life on it,” Nihlus said, pacing up and down the Admiral’s room, “you didn’t see them dancing, Councillor.” He shook his head, it had been fascinating, he had seen bonded couples that didn’t fight nearly as well as Shepard and Vakarian did. “Though next time, if you could warn me you were sending our Lieutenant’s bond mate, that would be really appreciated.”

“What?”

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - SHEPARD/VAKARIAN SLEEPING QUARTERS

“If you spend time with someone, drift with someone for a long time, Kaidan and I had years doing it,” Shepard started, staring into Garrus’ blue eyes. “If you spend so much time in each other’s heads, after that and being alone, the things you miss the most is the companionship. Kaidan and I were friends at the end, and I knew him inside out, just as he knew me. We had even started communicating in silence while drifting.”

Garrus nodded at her. He had been slightly jealous of their position as Rangers, had even started training to become one, though he apparently didn’t have the necessary discipline to drift with another person. Regardless of how many hours he had in the simulator, he had never been compatible with anyone. Not until now.

“I don’t remember you and Kaidan as a couple.” He remarked, for all intents and purposes, that’s what they were, the link was undeniable, even if Sophia wanted to leave it for later.

“We weren’t,” she laughed. “It was around the time we started sleeping together, and I wouldn’t cheat on a partner, so whatever crush, whatever romantic intentions Kaidan might have had? Down the drain when he saw my memories.”

Garrus groaned, rolling away from Shepard and covering his eyes. He hadn’t noticed any change in Alenko during those days, though he hadn’t been close with him by any stretch of the imagination.

“I do think he saw your dick, Garrus,” Shepard laughed, poking his waist. “Hell he might even have wanted to have a go at you, though I think he was making heart eyes at one of the soldier at that base.” Garrus had been stationed at the Human base during those years, something to further Turian-Human relationships the reports had said. In reality it was to keep him out of Palin’s proverbial fringe.

It did end up furthering Turian-Human relationships, though not in any way what his superiors were expecting.

“You’re the worst.”

“You love me?” She half laughed, half asked.

“You’re still the worst.”

It was as Shepard kissed him, that the warning sign for a Collector attack started blasting through the station.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

‘Movement in the Palaven,’ the VI announced as Joker walked by, a cup of coffee in his hand. ‘Double event. Two signatures. Dilation Indicator, Category 4.’

“Of shit.” Joker whispered, even as he sent out the alarm.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION

Shepard followed Garrus’ hulking form through the crowd. She could see the other Rangers in place, none of which she had had the time to talk to. A trio of women - two humans and an Asari - stood to the front and centre, next to Nihlus and a female Turian she hadn’t been introduced to, and another human couple, all of them in Ranger undersuits.

“We’re opening the portals in fifteen minutes, a portal has opened on Palaven, near Cipritine half an hour ago,” Joker started, glancing around the room. “We have two signatures, both Category 4’s, codenames Otachi and Leatherback. They’ll reach Cipritine within the hour.”

“Evacuate the city,” Victus tookk over, his voice ringing in the near silence. If he was displeased with Sophia and Garrus he didn’t show it. “I want every single civilian in a refuge, no matter how much they don’t want to. We don’t deal with this threat using simple firearms. Prometheus, Might of the Hierarchy, I want you to frontline the shore, stay on the miracle mile. Biotic Typhoon, I want you to stay back, look after the coast line, we cannot afford to lose you, so only engage as a final option.”

Then he looked at Sophia and Garrus, mandibles tight. “You two, you stay put.”

Oh that one hurt.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - MIRACLE MILE

“Darvaza, Typhon’s awaiting orders.” The calm voice of the Justicar drifted through the comms, the nervous energy in the Jaeger palpable.

“Remain in the miracle mile, engage at your discretion,” Victus said, voice breaking with static. “Keep your eyes open, these Cat 4’s are the biggest we’ve ever seen, both in size and weight.”

“Prometheus reaching targeted zone.”

“Prometheus holding the coastline, beacon is on.”

Miles away, Shepard watched through the live feed as both Jaegers dropped in the ocean, the silver of Turian architecture a sharp contrast with the dark grey of the robots as they searched

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - PACIFIC HUNTERS

“Look at them,” Saren said, starting at the busy streets, “going on about their lives as if nothing was out of the ordinary, Turians don’t do well with inactivity and this? This is torture .”

“You’re too young to be getting philosophical on me, Arterius.” Okeer rumbled.

“We can’t get you the brain, Okeer,” Saren said, breathing through this mandibles. “By the time we can drill the Collector, the brain’s rotted away.”

“Do you think I’m stupid, Arterius?” Okeer rumbled again, staring again at the Turian. “We both know the Collectors are so large that they need two brains to move around, like our Jaegers, that’s the one I want.”

“What the hell do you want a secondary brain for, anyway? Every part of the Collector sells, even the toenails if they have it. Even their waste can be repurposed, Surk’Kesh has seen their forest flourish with Collector waste as fertilizer. What do you want it for?”

“Classified,” Mordin pipped in, examining a Collector spleen on display.

“I’m gonna drift with a Collector,” Okeer grinned, yellowed teeth showing in mirth. “I figured out a way to do it, extract information, if you will. It helps that they have a hive mind. So I need to do it again.”

“You’ve already done it, didn’t you?” Saren growled low in his throat. “You spirits forsaken moron. Congratulations, now they also know where you are.” The sirens indicating an attack started to blast through the city, the Turians bellow them immediately moving to an assigned bunker. Turian never did well with inaction, but they always did as they were told, mostly. “I’m not dying here just because you’re stupid enough to signal to our enemies where you are, get out of my sight.”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - MIRACLE MILE

“Movement on the right,” Nihlus said. “3 o’clock.”

It was as he said it that the first Collector jumped out of the water, tackling the Might Of the Hierarchy and throwing it aside. The Collector leaped at them, engaging in hand-to-hand, even as the Turians inside activated the blades at the spurs and kicked the monster aside, the blue blood seeping through the ocean.

Prometheus engaged with the second Collector, initiating a series of punches, that seemed to land flat on the thick hide of Leatherback.

“Prometheus and Hierarchy are in trouble, Darvaza, we need to engage.” The rough voice of a woman sounded through the comms, Jack.

“Negative, Typhoon,” Victus ordered, his gut churning. “We need you to carry that damned bomb, do you copy?”

“Patience,” the Justicar - Samara - said, trying to transmit calm over the neural link.

In the ocean, Otachi seemed to grow a tail - had it always been there? No one has noticed it - and grab Prometheus by the helmet, piercing through metal as it searched for the Jaeger’s pilots. It was a mater of seconds until the loud, piercing feedback of the Jaeger went down.

“Prometheus is down,” the other woman - Miranda - shouted at the comms, even as they all saw as Hierarchy moved into position to tackle the monsters.

“Oh screw this, we’re moving in!”


	11. Chapter 11

DARVAZA SPACE STATION - LAUNCHING BAY

It was as the Jaeger, Hierarchy, readied it’s position that the Collector leaped out of the water again, barfing and coating the Jaeger in corrosive fluid.

“We’ve been hit with some kind of acid,” the woman - Loccen - shouted in the speaker. They both could see the liquid eating away at their Jaeger. Being face to face with a Collector? Really face to face? It was beyond what they had signed up for. Light years aways, watching through the live feed, Shepard quietly faded in the background, toward the suiting area. Typhoon and Hierarchy wouldn’t be able to hold much longer.

‘Five minutes, please, just five minutes!’ She thought to herself, as she ran to be suited, they needed to be ready. Far away she heard Victus call out for both of them to suit up.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - MIRACLE MILE

On the ground, there still enough of a distance for Typhoon to try biotics, the city would suffer, but buildings could always be reconstructed. They did the mnemonic for a Push, unleashing it as the second Collector tried to tackle down the Hierarchy. The Push send the Collector over to the port, though it seemed fixed on the Jaegers, thankfully.

As the Hierarchy shook off Otachi, the Typhoon could see the gap in the helmet, showing off both Rangers, still hanging on to the module, the heart seemed to bleed in the night.

Typhoon readied another mnemonic - for Throw this time - as Leatherback locked in on them, the bulbous head and body making their biotics almost bounce off the Collector. Behind it, Otachi latched onto Hierarchy’s back, clawing and spewing acid as it tried to take down the Jaeger.

“Engaging missiles!” Samara shouted. At the same time, the Collector seemed to create an electromagnetic field around them, unleashing it on the Jaeger, on Cipritine, the first Collector-released weapon.

“What the hell.”

“We’re offline!”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - PACIFIC HUNTERS

“Saren we need to leave.” One of the thugs said, starting with prepping and packaging whatever they could carry.

“A hive mentality you said.” The Turian in question moved around the room, looking over his collection and then back at the Krogan and Salarian duet. He wasn’t a betting man, but he would bet Victus send them to him on purpose. All right, a lesson it was them. “There are two spirits forsaken collectors heading straight to Cipritine.”

“Damn, didn’t want to be right.” Mordin muttered in the background.

“When Jaeger Rangers drift, it’s a two-way street, a bridge. It goes both fucking ways, you moron!” Saren shouted, stepping right up to the Okeer. “A hive mind you said, you drifted with a void-damned hive mind! So maybe, just maybe, they’re trying to find you! So, now, now I’m going to my nice bunker, since I don’t have a Jaeger to fight on, and I’m gonna wait it out. You both? You’re on your own.” He looked both scientists before turning away. “Get the hell out of my shop.”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - MIRACLE MILE

“There’s no emergency power in this thing,” Jack snapped, pushing the buttons up and down, trying to get a reaction, trying to get something out of the damned 2km-tall robot.

“We have to do something, that thing’s right outside, we have to leave!”

“We’re not going anywhere.” Samara said, as she slid out of the harness. “We’re the only thing standing between those things and a city of fifteen million people, now we either do something about it, or we wait for it to kill us all.”

“They’re Turians,” Miranda shrugged, between her life and someone else’s, she would always choose hers.

“They’re _people_ ,” Jack snarled, flexing her hands, “damn you and your morals lessons, Samara. Are you coming or not, Cheerleader?”

“They’re people,” Samara repeated, opening the hatch to manually climb out of the Jaeger. “It’s our duty to protect them.”

“Fine!” Miranda snapped back, even as her hands trembled in fear. Even as her feet moved without her express commands. Damned drift effect.

“Oi! Ugly!” Jack shouted, snarling in the face of the beast, all that weight, all that snarling blue grin just made her hate it that much more. She knew, instinctively, that Samara was reading a Singularity, the same way she could Throw at a moment’s notice, or Miranda could Slam at will. Hopefully it would be enough of a distraction.

As the Collector roared at them, they unleashed they biotics combined into a biotic explosion. It was a distraction, but it wasn’t enough.

Behind the Collector a new form emerged. The unmistakable fringe of a Turian with the five fingers of a more humanoid Jaeger. The Digeris emerged from the water, grabbing the nearest arm and yanking it out, before punching the beast in it’s horrifically grinning face, engaging in battle, holding on to it’s arms as it readied the right-sided plasma cannon.

“Come, we can do this! We can end this motherfucker!” Shepard shouted as they held on to the Collector.

“I got him! Empty the clip!” Garrus shouted back. It was different holding an enemy with his metals fingers than with his usual gloves. He held on as Shepard emptied everything on the bulbous body.

“I think it’s dead.” Shepard said as the Collector stopped moving.

“Let me check for a pulse,” Garrus turned back, sending five shots into the belly of the beast. The carcass opening up like a grotesque form of birth.

“No pulse,” Shepard replied. She loved fighting with him.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE

“Stupid, stupid, stupid! You thought drifting with a Collector was smart, of course you did, stupid Krogan!” Okeer snapped, at himself mostly. At the simple oversight of drifting with a hive mind.

“Not stupid.” Mordin snapped back, looking at the Krogan. “Easiest solution, often smartest solution. Shouldn’t have overlooked it.” Mordin said, as they both walked toward a bunker. Being among Turians meant they all walked in formation, something that was fairly easy to follow, and that neither of them would have to pay attention to where they were going, usually. “Shouldn’t have underestimates you.”

“No, shouldn’t have.” The Krogran grumbled, settling in place into the dark bunker. Being the lone Krogan in a tiny room full of Turians and a Salarian was uncomfortable. Being surrounded by those you considered enemies was never fun.

In the silence they could head the thudding of the Collector getting closer. A shiver of anticipation ran through his twice-reconstructed spine as the thudding stopped right above them. The beast was here for him. Okeer grinned before howling back at the Collector.

“COME AND GET ME!” He shouted, taking a shotgun out of his back. At the same time the Turians pulled out weapons, pointing at the Krogan. The thing started to dig in the rock and concrete surrounding the bunker, opening a fissure. “COME AND GET ME!!” Okeer shouted again, firing a his shotgun in the first blue bio-luminescent thing that showed up through the concrete. The Collector shrieked, as the sound of screams and gunshots filled the bunker, the stench of Collector blood filling the air as the platoon in the bunker grabbed the chance to fight back.

In the back, the heavy thuds of Digeris sounded through Cipritine. Before the Jaeger grabbed the Collector’s tail and pulled, a mixture of Shepard’s biotics and Garrus’ strength. The Collector wrapped it’s tail around the Jaeger’s left arm, snapping at the right.

“I’ll hold it, use the coolant!” Garrus shouted over the noise.

“Releasing coolant!” It was both magnificent and grotesque, to see the snapping tail freeze over, only to be shattered by Garrus flexing the Jaeger’s steel alloys. As the Collector shrieked in pain, they reached into it’s mouth, pulling off it’s tongue. No more acid, for anyone. The Collector shrieked again, in pain, in anger, they couldn’t tell, before grabbing the front of the armour and lifting off.

“I had no idea Collectors could even fly.” Garrus remarked, as he looked over their available weapons. Plasma canons shot to the Void, coolant and launching missiles expended, unless… “There’s one thing we can try.”

“We’re losing Oxygen, I’m all ears!” The image of a Omniblade appeared in her mind, even as they closed their fist, the bright yellow blade moving sharply as it cut the Collector in half.


	12. Chapter 12

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE

50.000 feet

47.000 feet

43.000 feet

40.000 feet

“Any more ideas?” Shepard shouted as the VI counted their fall. Outgunned, outnumbered. Out of all the ways to go, Shepard paste wasn’t one she had particularly entertained, not in her line of work.

“Digeris,” Anderson shouted in their comms, his voice resonating through the cockpit. “Listen to me. Loosen all shock absorbers, use your gyroscope as balance and ball up! It’s your only chance!”

‘20.000 feet’ the VI chirped at them.

“Fuel purge!” Shepard said as she loosened all the ship fuel in their tank.

“We’re coming in to fast.” Garrus shouted, as the ground seemed to raise up to meet him.

“I know, brace for impact!”

They fell in Cipritine’s shore, the water at the Jaeger’s knees as they fell in like a brilliant metal ball. Inside, Shepard shouted at the synaptic response in her legs, the price of being alive was pain, one she would pay ten times over if needed.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m not, you might need to carry me.”

They laughed as the Jaeger stilled around them.

DARVAZA SPACE STATION

“And now what?” Victus asked as Anderson and him saw the live footage. He has no doubt all the galaxy was watching another one of their victories, as hard of a victory as it was.

“Can we set up repairs on Palaven? Okeer’s down there, if we can set up shop until he’s done, we can anticipate the any Collector attack. Any attempt on his life.”

“You do know why this happened, right?” Victus asked, staring Anderson in the eyes.

“The drift he did, if we’re dealing with a hive mind, they’ll know we’re coming.”

“I want them to know, I want them to be as scared as they’ve made up.”

“And Okeer?” Anderson asked, crossing his arms.

“We’ll provide aid where we can, but it’s past the time we let him work. I’ll talk to Saren, see if we can set something up.”

As Adrien Victus left the room, David Anderson was left thinking how war made affected him, and turned him to agreeing to a partnership with the strangest of bedfellows.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE

“Do I need to do everything myself?” Okeer asked, disgusted at the lack of progress.

“Unlike you, my crew can only breathe oxygen, we can only do so much and move so much with the suits into such a hazardous habitat.”

“Boss,” one of the thugs called at the other end, static filling its voice. “The secondary brain it’s damaged.”

“Of by the Void, I’m not waiting for a second Collector attack to get rid of the Krogan.” Saren snapped, looking around the site. “What happened?” 

“It’s damaged, there’s nothing we can do, w-” the call was cut off with a shout and static on their end.

“Spirits spare me workers trying to think for themselves, what now?!”

“Oh by the wrath of Kalross…” Okeer muttered as he walked up to the Collector, the cut up belly making an easy way in. As he walked up to it, a rumble in the Collector made him pause, a mass of liquid and a flesh heading toward him. He readied his shotgun again, pumping it twice as the malformed Collector child tumbled out of the womb. Collectors got pregnant, who knew?

“And now I have my Collector brain, thank you for your service.”

“Tsk.”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - SHADOW HOARDERS CLUB

They had settled down a a Biotic Ball stadium, the area big enough to house the two and a half Jaegers, and nurse the pilots back to health, or relative health as the case was, with Sophia and Garrus relatively intact, while Jack nursed a broken elbow from the force of the biotic explosion.

“Sir,” Joker shouted in the comms, even light years away, it seemed like the man was right next to them. “Signature in Cipritine again. Two Cat 4s coming through the portals.”

“Where are they headed?”

“Nowhere, they seem to be guarding something, maybe the portal?”

“Fuck it, tell Typhoon and Digeris to suit up.” 

“This is bullshit,” Jack shouted. “In under 36 hours?!”

“We have a plan,” Anderson said over the comms, even as Shepard saw Nihlus straightening up, going to suit up. “We’re arming out Biotic Typhoon with a nuclear warhead, twenty times the power of the the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ones, you know what I’m talking about, Sophia, Jack, Miranda. We’ve figured out a way to make it happen, Okeer only needs to get back to us with information about the other side. We’re gonna drop that thing where the Collectors come from, and leave them to pick up the mess they’ve made. This is the last day of the war, were we combine our efforts and take the fight to them, instead of waiting for it to come to us and decimate our homes. One way of the other, today we monsters that are at our doors and bring the fight them. Typhoon, Digeris, this is on you, make us proud.”

“I can’t pilot,” Jack said, looking between the remaining six pilots.

“I can,” Nihlus sighed, lifting up his hand and making his own biotics sing, it was weak compared to the women, but it was enough. It would have to be enough.

“One last fight?” Garrus asked, bumping his forehead against Sophia’s.

“One last fight.” She agreed. “Hey if we come out of this alive, I’m gonna ask you to formally bond with me. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

“I’m terrified,” he winked at her, before they headed back to the Jaeger. One last fight. They just had to get through one last fight.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE

“Two signatures? That’s wrong, supposed to be three.” Mordin muttered, engaging the neural map with the baby Collector they had in their hands.

“Not the time Mordin.”

“Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, it’s supposed to be three.”

“If you wanna talk theories, we’ll talk about it later, right now, I’m drifting with this thing with or without you. Choose.” Okeer grumbled as he pierced the malformed skull with a probe. Flying Collectors. What’s next? Green forests on Tuchanka?

“I’m ready.”

Okeer extended the neural cap to the Salarian, putting his own in place. He thought about counting down, before shaking his head and pressing the button. Count down was for fools. Their lives passed them by, Okeer’s much more than Mordin’s.

The different life span passing them by. _The wasteland of Tuchanka, the green valleys and tall buildings before the nuclear waste, the eggs hatching with Krogan babies, and those stillborn that didn’t move. His promise to create the perfect Krogan, to restore them to their greatness. His failure, time and again. His loneliness and growing hatred of the current Krogan, they were all weak. The expectancy of his success, he was a Solus after all, the way the bonding contracts were fulfilled mechanically, there was no joy in meeting Rukky, his join was in studying what the universe was made of. The way the wombed pulsed as they were born. Thousands of needles adjusting them. Moving them from mother to womb to womb to mother and back so as to please their masters. They were hunting hound and destroyer of worlds there was nothing else._

“Are you still alive?” The distant voice of Okeer drifted back to him, bringing him back to the present.

“Yes, yes, did you see it?”

“The portals, the Jaegers, yes. We have to warn them.”

“The plan is not going to work.” Okeer rumbled, heading into the stadium. He stopped for a moment, looking at Mordin. “I know what you did Salarian. I just want you to know that I approve.”


	13. Chapter 13

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - CIPRITINE’S MIRACLE MILE

They were headed further into the ocean, lead by choppers borrowed by the Turian military. It was 2181 all over again it seemed. Garrus felt his gut churning as the ports sealed around them. They had plenty of oxygen, but he still felt the metal caving in on him. He felt Shepard push against him, her mind aligned with his, laid bare before him in a way she never had before. It was the most intimate they had been since before the Palaven battle.

“I got you, I’m not gonna let you drown.” She smiled at him, forced and through gritted teeth. But he could feel the sincerity in her words. He wouldn’t let her drown either.

They were dropped at the edge of the trench and would have to follow it down all by themselves.

_“Both Cat 4’s still in circle formation, Typhoon, Digeris,”_ came Joker’s voice over the comms.

“Visibility zero, switching to instruments now,” Shepard announced.

“Two kilometres to the Portal, we go in, we jump, we deliver the bomb.” Nihlus said, even as he felt the uncertainty coming from Miranda’s side of the three-way drift. It was their first time in such confinement and if she knew Samara half as well as she hoped, then she knew the history the Justicar and the former Spectre shared. And the truce they were on until the war ended.

“How are we supposed to see when we get there?”

“Calm yourself, child.” Samara said, looking at the instruments depicting eco-location and terrain around them. “Just lend us your strength.”

_“Digeris you’ve got movement on your three o’clock! 3 o’clock!”_ Joker snapped through the comms, bringing them all back in the moment, they had a mission to complete.

“We don’t have anything on sensors, it’s moving too fast,” Garrus replied, checking in. There was a reason he disliked swimming so much, the monsters herding them were just half of it.

“I got you, I’m not gonna let you drown.” Sophia said, his fear like a shiver down her spine.

The Jaegers jumped to the deepest crevice in Cipritine’s ocean, the silence oppressive where once the ocean used to sing.

“400 meters and closing in,” Nihlus said, the brightness of the portal blinding them just as much as the darkness had.

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - SHADOW HOARDERS CLUB

_‘A Krogan, a Salarian and a grumpy Turian ran into a Biotic Ball Stadium,’_ it would’ve been the start of a joke, Okeer thought, if the circumstances were anything but what they currently were. “We need to speak with Anderson or Victus or whoever the hell is currently giving the orders in this place!” Okeer bellowed as they moved to the Jaeger centre, he could see the two injured pilots in the hands of a human doctor, even as Mordin all but ran to the makeshift command centre.

“Typhoon, Digeris, the boogies are stopping, take the jump, and get this thing over with!” Anderson, in person, in an anti-radiation suit was over the comms. Okeer could see the weariness in him even from a distance, the dropping shoulders, the darker eyes. The look of a man who hadn’t slept in days.

“Don’t do it!” Mordin snapped, running the length of the corridor until he could get to the comms, “not going to work, it’ll be suicide! Move, move move!” The Salarian snapped again, pushing Anderson to the side. He took a deep breath, snatching the comm from the humans. “Isn’t going to work, just because portal open does not mean the bomb will go through. The portal genetically reads the Collectors, like, like clone scans on the Citadel and then let’s them pass.”

Okeer reached the Salarian just as Mordin took another breath, snatching the comm from his hands, the metal whining on his massive hands, “it’s like an IFF, you’re gonna have to get one to pass through.”

_“We’re a hundred miles under the ocean, how in the void are we supposed to do that?”_ Sophia snapped, glancing at the instruments which were finally showing the hulking forms at the other side, just waiting.

“You’re gonna have to make the portal think you’re a Collector, lock onto the Collector, ride it into the portal, the portal will read you as a Collector and let you pass.” Mordin rattled off, grabbing the comms before Okeer yanked it from his hands again. “Just yank their damn entrails out and ride the portal back and forth, it should get enough genetic code to let you pass back and forth.”

Anderson yanked the comm out of Okeer’s hands, glaring at the Krogan. He didn’t have Shepard’s hard headedness to head-butt a Krogan, but if push came to shove he would do it. “You heard them, now take the leap.”

“Sir,” Joker cried, “I have a third signature emerging from the portal.”

“Was right after all,” Mordin said, glaring at the screen, his pride at war with his consciousness, half of him hoping the readings were wrong.

_“What category is it?”_ Nihlus asked, even as his readings showed up on screen.

“Category five, the first one ever.”

PALAVEN - CIPRITINE - CIPRITINE’S MIRACLE MILE

“Typhoon we see him,” Garrus said, while Sophia muttered an 'ugly son of a bitch' under her breath. "We're right behind you, about a hundred meters, we're gonna come around to your three o'clock, try to flank him, standard two-team formation just keep him busy for two m-” they were cut off as one of the Collectors tacked them at the side. They were too close to try any biotics, so hand-to-hand it was, they tackled the monster back by the throat, throwing it in the ocean floor with the weight of a 2-ton robot on top.

Sadly Collector were never that easy to kill.

“Brace for impact!” Miranda called it, reading their thrusters. “If this thing keeps me from seeing my girlfriend again I’m gonna be pissed.” She grunted as the beat threw them against a rock formation, and she couldn’t help but thing the ambientalists would also be pissed at them for destroying thousands of years of coral formation, or whatever the dextro equivalent was.

Digeris deployed the omni-blade, right on time for the second Category 4 to bite and snap their right arm off. Sophia howled at the synaptic discharge. Whoever thought that pain receptors would make the Rangers fight better was a fool.

The omni-blade on their left side still worked, and they stabbed the Collector on the ocean floor before dragging it into the submerged volcanic formation, a jet of boiling water that never really hit the surface, hit the Collector in the face, the beast trashing in their hold. They needed to finish this quickly.

_“Digeris,”_ came Samara’s voice, the usually composed Justicar seemed to be just as effect as they were with the fight. _“Collector hearing your way at 12 o’clock, dodge!”_

No. They didn’t need to glance at each other anymore, the sync perfect on both ends, they braced themselves on the sandy floor, omni-blade at the ready as one of the monsters came at them at full speed, slicing itself on their blade, until it found it’s resting place on the ocean floor.

“Scratch one!” Shepard said, her grin feral.

“The release is jammed,” Nihlus shouted over the noise in the cockpit. “We can’t deliver the payload!”

“We’re still armed, but the hull is compromised,” Miranda shouted back. It was times like these that she was both thankful for Samara’s level headedness and also jealous. All in all, it was the Asari that kept the operation going from sheer force of will. “Half of our systems are offline.”

“We need to override t-”

Samara was cut off as the Category five swam in their direction, hitting them in a frontal assault. The Typhoon readied it’s blades, piercing them through leather-like hide and into the arm junction of the Collector. The beast roared, and the Category 4 answered, swimming at full speed into it’s encounter.

Battered, missing an arm, holding own by their sheer will, Digeris answered the uncalled for aid, “we’re coming for you! Just hold on!”

“No!” Nihlus and Samara shouted, their voices blending in as one, even as Miranda remained silent, reading their weapons through sheer will. “You know what you have to do, Digeris is nuclear, take her to the portal!”

“Typhoon!” _SophiaGarrus_ shouted back, reeling against orders, even if they could see where they were going.

“You know what you have to do!”

“We hear you. We’ll end this.”

“We’ll clear you a path,” Miranda said, reading the nuclear explosion. “But like hell I’m dying on this planet.”

“Miranda!” Samara shouted, looking at her lost girl, she reminded Samara so much of Falere. “We can do this right, or we can do this quickly.”

“I chose neither!” The biotic snapped, glaring at Nihlus, the former Spectre just nodding back. “You know what I want to do, do you trust me?”

“Not in a million years,” the Turian grinned, mandibles spread wide. “Let’s go for it, I don’t fancy dying on this planet either. Samara?”

There was no time for the Justicar to answer as Miranda and Nihlus quickly moved to the life-savers, biotic shield at the ready.

Thousands of light years away, Joker, Victus and the rest of the Darvaza station saw Palaven light up.

DIGERIS OMEGA

_“All systems critical,”_ the VI alerted them, as if they couldn’t see everything lighting up in red. _“Fluid loss, systems critical.”_

“Systems are critical, fuel’s leaking, our right leg’s crippled,” Garrus listed the damage, looking at this partner in the eyes. “Let’s finish this.”

“Darvaza,” Sophia says through gritted teeth, “we have the Collector carcass. We’re heading for the portal.”

The steps were hard to take, the left leg dragging in the sand as they held on to the carcass. Two steps away from the jump the hulking for of the last Collector stood on their path.

“On my count, jets at full power,” Sophia shouted, getting a wave of agreement from Garrus.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

They tackled the monster piercing it’s hide with the omni-blade and holding on for dear life, for the ones counting on them, for each other. The Collector trashed in their hold, the tentacles grasping whatever part of the Jaeger it could reach.

“Hold on, we’re gonna burn this son of a bitch.” Shepard shouted as she released the nuclear hold on the Collector even as they feel through the portal.


	14. Chapter 14

GALACTIC CORE

_‘Oxygen main, left hemisphere, critical levels. Operating at 15% capacity.’_ The VI announced as Shepard looked sharply at Garrus, he was unconscious, the lack of oxygen getting to him much faster than normal. Fuck. She had promised.

“I love you,” she whispered to him disconnecting her own source of oxygen and connecting to his. “I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to show you, but I can finish this, I can keep everyone safe. All I have to do is fall, anyone can fall.”

_“Shepard, your oxygen levels are critical now,”_ Joker snapped through the comms. _“You’re out of time. Start the core meltdown and get the fuck out of there! Get out of there now!”_

“I read you.” Shepard whispered. “Trigger’s offline, I’ll have to do it by hand.”

‘ _I’m so sorry.’_ She thought, hoping against hope that Garrus could still hear her as she ejected his pod. She had promised she wouldn’t let him drown.

The Jaeger kept falling through the portal, so much more organic than a Mass Effect propulsion system. The blood on coating the Jaeger making the transition easy, the carcass, easier.

The stepped out of the harness, moving to the manual controls. The whole point of them was to make manual detonation difficult. “They never counted on this,” she hissed through gritted teeth as she moved to open the hatch and activate the meltdown.

“Meltdown engaged. T-60 until explosion, moving on to the pod.”

For once, she hopped against hope that gods, Garrus’ spirits of even Liara’s goddess would smile upon her. And that the cockpit was recording everything she was seeing.

The Jaeger feel on a strange world, in a strange station at the galactic core, with being twice the size of the Jaeger, Sophia only had time to activate the life safer pod before she started to feel the effects of the lack of oxygen. She wouldn’t see the detonation, even as the suit kept recording. Even as the Darvaza space station got confirmation of all portals collapsing.

PALAVEN - CIPRITICE OCEAN

Miles above the collapsed portal, two pods emerged from the deep waters.

Garrus opened his with a start, glancing around the calm waters. Where was she? “Shepard!” He called, seeing no indication of a second pod for a moment, before the sound of four others popping around him. The first one to open was Miranda’s, the second one Nihlus’, the third one Samara opened with an elegance she had no right to, right after their mission. The fourth one stayed closed.

“Shepard!” He called again, cursing his inability to swim.

“I’ll see to her,” Miranda called out, heading to the closed pod, while Garrus waddled through the waters to get closer. She couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t. Not after everything.

“She’s not breathing!” Miranda said as she removed the helmet, feeling for a pulse. Where the hell was the fucking resistance when you needed them? “Shepard!” She shouted again, lightly slapping the commander, before starting with CPR. It was the most awkward position she could manage, but she couldn’t let any of them die, not after today.

It was after three tries that the former Commander started breathing, trying to get a lungful of air. “Where is he?” She asked as she got her bearings. The calm ocean, the clear sky, the bright light of Trebia lighting up her skin.

“Don’t you ever do this to me again,” Garrus growled, pulling her to him, as Shepard sagged in his arms. “I’m never letting you out of my sigh again.”

“I’m okay with that.”

She would have to be looked over, they all would, but it was finally over.

It was over.


End file.
